Mark Hootsen Left Book Club: CELEBRITY MBTI: How to spot an ENTP

I. Introduction

Novichkov, in his How to Find Yourself and Your Best Match (2007), only managed to type a handful of celebrities as ENTPs. The males were Joseph Fiennes and Mick Jagger, the females, Courteney Cox, Mädchen Amick, Molly Sims, Daniela Pestova, and Mary Steenburgen.

I've found a few more, as can be seen below. In my personal life, I have three or four colleagues who are ENTPs and two friends who are ENTPs. All of the ENTPs I know belong to the male gender: I have never, to my knowledge, met a female ENTP.

You can recognise the NT (Intuitive and Thinker) type quite easily, and ENTPs as a subset of that class are quite distinctive.

Something that I have noticed, using Novichkov's method, is that a type will resemble its Contrary most of all. (In Socionics, the Contrary type uses all the same functions as yours and in the same order, but each of the functions differs in being the opposite in terms of 'vertedness' - the degree of Extraversion or Introversion. For instance, the INTJ type is Introverted Intuitive / Extraverted thinking, and the INTJ's Contrary, the ENTP, is Extraverted Intuitive / Introverted Thinking). Courteney Cox, an ENTP, looks remarkably similar to Rena Sofer, an INTJ.

II. Visually identifying the ENTP

Let's run through, briefly, how an ENTP looks according to Novichkov.

The ENTP as Perceiver: because the ENTP is a Perceiver - his dominant function, Extraverted Intuition, is a Perceiving and not a Judging one - he has a perceiver's neck.

In the below diagram, Novichkov contrasts the 'Conceiving' (Judging) and Perceiving neck and head shapes:

Here we see the side view of a Perceiver and a Judger, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs respectively:

The ENTP as Thinker: Novichkov lists these attributes of the Thinking, as opposed to the Feeling, type:

1. Large, flat, expressive forehead;
2. Pronounced, jutting superciliary arches (bones beneath eyebrows);
3. Angular or non-existent bridge of nose dip;
4. Deep eye sockets;
5. Hawkish nose;
6. Narrow, inexpressive lower face.

Boris Karloff, as Frankenstein's monster, gives us a highly exaggerated, caricatured example of a Thinker's face:

Here are two typical Thinkers:

The ENTP as Extraverted Intuitive: Intuitives tend to be gangly and floppy in their build, and they sit and stand in an unusual, awkward way. When sitting, they tend to flop and sprawl, and seem to lack a sense of personal space. Jarvis Cocker gives us a good example of this, as does Megyn Kelly:

You'll notice that their fingers are long, skinny and knuckled.

The gaze of the Extraverted Intuitive pierces and unsettles. It seems restless, erratic and a little crazy:

The ENTP as Introvert: a person's facial expression tells if they are an Introvert or Extravert. The facial expression of an Extravert always appears tense and (especially as the Extravert gets older) weather beaten and worn-down. You can see this absence of relaxation in the pursed mouth and rigid jaw.

They always seem comfortable and willing to smile in front of a camera; you could say that they lean towards it - they possess a spark and momentum.

III. The ENTP Celebrities: ENTP men

Here are the famous ENTP men:

Frank Miller - comic book artist and writer